


mere letters away

by seohngjin (cngkyns)



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, Gen, Platonic Relationships, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Soulmates, at this point idk what i'm tagging anymore, tho i can guarantee it's a v light n fluffy read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 08:49:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17097602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cngkyns/pseuds/seohngjin
Summary: [ soulmate au: the words your soulmate tells you-- when you meet as soulmates-- are tattooed somewhere on your body ]shaking your head in a self-deprecating manner, you remark, "isn't it sad? for two twenty-somethings to be alone and do nothing on the weekends. it should be our prime time right now. our years of socialisation. sometimes i wish i've met my soulmate already."





	mere letters away

**Author's Note:**

> \- for the day6cord secret santa   
>  \- link leads to a song!   
>  \- to everyone, but _especially_ my recipient: i hope you enjoy this small gift from me! happy holidays to you all (and to those who celebrate it, merry xmas + happy new year!)

the night is warm when dowoon steps out onto his balcony.  
  
a dry gust of wind blows through the boughs of the trees lining the road below him, leaves and bushes and grass rustling alike and forming a choir of soft sighs. dim yellow street lights illuminate the black, empty pavement, not a soul going out and about on this tranquil saturday evening, while the latest trot tunes blasting from a distant apartment echoes down to his home. a faint smell of fried chicken, maybe from the university students living two floors below him, waft out into the night air. dowoon, clad in a loose wife beater, worn basketball shorts and carrying a simple bowl of ramyeon, sighs and settles down on his tiled balcony floor, crossing his long legs over over.  
  
"what's for dinner today, dowoon?"  
  
from the unit next to him, you sit on a single, worn cushion on your floor, both legs stretched out before you and hands holding a glass of hot chocolate on your lap. you smile when he turns to look at you.  
  
"spending the weekend at home as well?"  
  
he grins a little awkwardly, one side of his mouth higher than the other and not quite reaching his eyes. "of course. as usual." balancing the bowl on his lap, he rearranges his legs until they're in a more comfortable position. "what about you?"  
  
you shrug in response. even in this warm summer night, where the air is humid and a few beads of sweat roll down your neck, you feel chilly wearing your nightdress outside the comforts of your home, and goosebumps prickle all over your body. "you know the answer."  
  
"we don't have friends," both you and him chorus at the same time. then you both laugh.  
  
shaking your head in a self-deprecating manner, you remark, "isn't it sad? for two twenty-somethings to be alone and do nothing on the weekends."  
  
"or every day of the week," adds dowoon, sipping the soup of his ramyeon from a spoon.  
  
"it should be our prime time right now. our years of socialisation. we should partying, goofing and having fun with friends the way they do on tv. meanwhile, i haven't even found my soulmate yet." jutting your bottom lip into a pout, you point out, "at least you have a group of friends who just don't live around here. i don't know anyone in this area, other than you."  
  
"it isn't like my friends work near here," dowoon rebukes. "we're all busy adults, too, which means i can't see them much. it's all the same." raising his eyes over his bowl to meet yours, dowoon asks, "how about you? have you made any friends at your new job?"  
  
you shake your head again. "not yet. the people at my division aren't very friendly."  
  
"oh."  
  
"i've talked to them a bunch of times, but i haven't gone past the small talk stage with any of them." a soft, slow sigh, the slope of your shoulders deflating at the movement, you lean your head against the railing. "it's lonely out here. sometimes i wish i've met my soulmate already."  
  
"me too." dowoon scrunches his nose. "most of my friends met theirs in high school or university. so did my parents and my sister. but me? i've been working a full-time job for the past two years and i still have no idea who they are."  
  
"neither do i."  
  
you glance at the black, tiny words imprinted on your left forearm, words that your soulmate will utter when you finally meet them, words that were decided by the stars themselves for your first fated meeting with your supposed other half. "maybe things would be easier," you muse aloud, "if my soulmate's words weren't so generic. i would be able to know who they are."  
  
"what do yours say?"  
  
" _have a good day_ ," you read. "have a good day! with those words, anyone could've been my soulmate. how many strangers have i met in my life, cashiers and greeters and random passersby on the street, who said those words to me? what are the chances one of them was mine?"  
  
helpless with words and cheeks full of noodles, dowoon shakes his shoulders in reply.  
  
"it would really suck if one of those people who said that to me was actually my soulmate," you say. "i might as well never find them in my entire life."  
  
"hey, don't think that," dowoon chides gently, waving his chopsticks at your general direction while a small frown tugs on his features. "we're both lonely right now, but that doesn't mean it's going to last forever. maybe we're both late bloomers. maybe we'll meet our soulmates when we're older. that could be anywhere from tomorrow to the next fifty years-- we'll never know. and if we don't, then it's alright. many people lost theirs in their youth, before or after they meet each other, or they never found out who their soulmates were. yet they lived well, didn't they?"  
  
you nod, recalling your great-uncle's anecdotes of living his entire life as a bachelor, of accepting independence and freedom and being single in a world of couples. he'd always seemed content with his life, not caring that his soulmate was never found and that his soulmate's words imprinted on his right calf never faded, as it should when two mates are connected. you nod once, twice, thrice, and hum in thought. "right. yeah."  
  
"you'll be fine," dowoon finishes. tipping the bowl of ramyeon against his lips, he sips the soup for a bit before adding, “we'll both be fine. i know that for sure, because my mom says i'm smart and she's right about everything."  


you break into a grin. “shut up.”

  
the conversation pauses then, only interrupted by dowoon scraping chopsticks against his bowl and a solitary car driving beneath your apartment. in the inky black canvas of the night sky, a constellation twinkles at the both of you, as if reminding you that dowoon is right, good times are ahead, with or without a soulmate by your side.  
  
and then you straighten your back, ready to continue the conversation. "hey, dowoon, do you know that song that's on the radio these days? the one that's about being alone, but it starts with _i'm not lonely_ ?"  
  
"ah." your neighbour stops chewing for a second. "all alone? by day6?"  
  
"yeah! yeah, that song." crossing your legs and fidgeting with the hem of your pajama pants, you say, "their songs are always good, but that one is, by far, their best. i relate to the lyrics so much, you know?" a bright glint from the skies above catches your eye, so you tilt your head upwards to find the source. "the lyrics are so simple and straightforward, but they really hit the heart. my favourite part is _when it goes, i'm not lonely, i say to the night sky without any_ [ _strength_ ](https://youtu.be/Fd-elEnkInw) ."  
  
out of nowhere, dowoon flinches at your words, letting out a little "ouch." he rubs a hand over his collarbones and hisses.  
  
you glance at him. "are you okay?"  
  
he nods absentmindedly, his hand continuing to pat his collarbone. "yeah. i don't know why but it suddenly hurt. must be a bug."  
  
"ah. right. it's summer. mosquitoes."  
  
he nods, scrunching up his nose in distaste, until he stops patting his collarbones. a pause. you turn towards the railing of your balcony, peeking through the spaces between to see if anyone was out and about on the streets. your neighbour picks up his bowl and returns to eating his dinner, now halfway gone.  
  
as if the conversation didn't stop at all, you start talking again. “gosh, i've been listening to the song on repeat because a lot of the lyrics touch me here.” you place a hand on your chest. “it's like day6 wrote it for me. you know how the chorus goes? _when i leave tomorrow morning, i wish there was someone who would tell me, have a good day_ ," you sing, letting the last note float in the air.  
  
dowoon hums, his deep voice comforting at this time of night. "yeah, that part's nice. it sounds like they wrote the song about me, too.” he clears his throat, then adds, "you have a good voice, by the way."  
  
"thanks." you beam. "day6 are masters of touching hearts." folding your knees up and hugging them to your chest, you perch your chin on one of them and say, "sorry if i'm bothering you with this. it's just... i wish i knew more people around here, more people to talk to and do things with. even hearing _have a good day_ from someone would make me feel better.”  
  
"well then, y/n," smiles he, placing his now-empty bowl onto the floor, the ceramic clattering against the tiles, "i can do that for you. have a good day."  
  
and then your left forearm burns.  
  
you yelp in surprise, removing your arm from your body as the tiny words imprinted on them start stinging. dowoon rubs at his collarbone once again, craning his neck to peek at you through the railing between your balconies.  
  
"y/n? what's wrong?"  
  
you stare at your arm. "the words? my soulmate's words? why are they stinging?"  
  
"hm?" dowoon frowns. "that's weird. mine did too."  
  
"huh?" something clicks in your head. "wait, they were there?" you gesture at his collarbones. "what does yours say?"  
  
he tucks his chin towards his chest in an attempt to read them. "uh. it says... _i wish there was someone who would tell me, have a good day_ . oh!" dowoon claps his hands. "that's funny. day6 wrote a chorus with the exact same words. what a coincidence."  
  
"dowoon." you cut off his rambling. "dowoon, did you say this just now?"  
  
"say what?"  
  
"have a good day." 

"oh, yeah, i did. you wanted someone to tell you that, remember?"  
  
you blink, taking a second to put two and two together. "are we soulmates?"  


 

 

when morning comes, the sky has brightened into a clear blue, house sparrows twittering on your windowsill as they sing their morning greetings to the world.

though sundays are usually reserved for lounging about in your apartment, today is grocery day and you’re already dressed by the time the clock strikes nine-forty a.m. as per usual, you step out onto the balcony for a few moments of a tranquil morning before you set out on your errands, a cup of tea warming up your hand. below you, the neighbourhood streets were empty as usual, save for the birds on your windowsill and your neighbour on the adjacent balcony.

you flinch in surprise, seeing dowoon, the anti-morning person and your newly-discovered soulmate, very much awake and smiling at this hour of the day. he looks like he hasn’t slept a wink all night, with his bed hair sticking up on all sides and the creases of his bedsheets imprinted on his cheeks, yet there’s a bounce to his greeting when he says, “oh. hey.”

“you’re up early.” approaching your balcony railing, you lean over it and sip your cup of tea.

“so are you.”

a smile. “i’m gonna run some errands today.”

“so early in the morning?”

you hum. “yeah. wanted to get this over with so i can free up my weekend.”

he nods, quirking one side of his lip upwards to show his charming, awkward smile. “alright then. good luck with your errands and have a good day, y/n.”

with each time he says that, your forearm starts to tingle as your tattooed words fade, one shade lighter than before. a weight you didn’t know you carried-- perhaps from loneliness, perhaps from the suspense of not finding your soulmate for so long-- lifts up from your shoulders, and you break out into a big, bright grin.

“you too.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> hello! originally i was going to make graphics for my secret santa, but school got in the way and i lacked visual inspiration, so i wrote up a quick one-shot instead! it was rushed bc i only had a week left til this was due when i decided to scrap my gfx, hence the story might not be top quality. i say it was half beta-ed bc i had two betas looking over the first 3/4 of it (thank u k + c!!!) but they didn't see the final and edited version so!!! yes. that's all   
>  also, sorry if the au explanation is confusing! it's like, when you meet your soulmate, you aren't ~officially soulmates~ until the universe decides so. you can carry your tattooed words on you for an entire lifetime, but if your soulmate isn't officially yours, then you'll never meet them and your tattoos stay permanently visible on your body. idk why, i put a twist on that au last minute and gave no reason to it sdkj   
>  EDIT: a note has been edited out of this, so sorry for those who have read the fic as it was :((((( as usual, thank u for reading! feel free to hmu on [twt](http://twitter.com/seohngjin) or [tumblr](http://sungjhin.tumblr.com)!


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